#Patriots owner Robert Kraft, on @nflnetwork, saying that he believes he can keep Tom Brady and Bill Belichick together for the foreseeable future: “Everyone has to get their egos checked in and get it together.”

Questions swirling around Brady and Belichick are only a part of the bigger picture. Star tight end Rob Gronkowski stated after the game that “I’m definitely going to look at my future, for sure. I’m going to sit down the next couple of weeks and see where I’m at”. While Gronk didn’t mention retirement, he certainly hinted at the possibility.

However, both Brady and Gronkowski’s comments came within an hour of a crushing Super Bowl loss — the seventh time in the last nine seasons that their season ended without a Lombardi trophy. So, their postgame sentiments should be taken with a grain of salt. While it’s possible that neither player will be a part of the team in 2018, it is highly unlikely.

Additionally, the team has a long list of impending free agents including Nate Solder, Dion Lewis, Danny Amendola, and Malcom Butler — the man on the mind of many New England fans today. Butler, who played 98 percent of snaps this season, did not play in the Super Bowl aside from special teams.

As Dan Shaugnessy of the Boston Globe put it, “Nobody thinks this was a football decision. And it’s starting to feel like that much-discussed dysfunction at the top of the Patriot pyramid we heard so much about just might be real”.

Was last night’s loss the beginning of the end for the Patriots? Is New England’s long-reigning dynasty coming to a close? While plenty of uncertainty surrounds them right now, it’s tough to bet against Tom Brady, even at 41 years of age.